The recent state of confusion in Lebanese foreign policy will certainly have unfortunate consequences in the coming days, especially after the pro-Iranian Shi’a party, Hezbollah, placed its upper hand on this brotherly Arab country.
This meant it became the first in control of it, specifically after the Beirut Port incident and the grinding economic crisis that the country is going through. The Lebanese people have now begun to feel the danger of this matter, as a result of the increase in Iranian influence in the Lebanese territories.
They can also see the almost complete control of this party, and thus Tehran, over most of the political currents in the country, including the Free Patriotic Movement led by Lebanese President Michel Aoun.
Observers of the situation in Lebanon find that Iran is trying, with full force and on the largest scale, to market the Lebanese crisis. It is doing so by promoting and spreading lies through its media trumpets in Tehran and Beirut, in a cheap attempt to inflame discord in the Lebanese street and create a state of tension.
Iran is trying, through an elaborate scheme, to hijack Lebanon, and it is already on the verge of success in isolating it from its Arab surroundings, as it did before with Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. It comes in addition to its desperate attempts to strike the stability of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region in general, and in particular Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, through its allies with the Shi’a communities in these countries.
Lebanon will certainly pay the price for Tehran’s mistakes and ambitions in the region, and the coming days may bring unsuspecting news to it, as it is led by Iran, which dreams of building a Persian empire at the expense of the countries of the region.
Lebanon is suffering a lot, as a result of the grinding economic situation it is going through, as the situation has become dangerous, and foreshadows a new civil war. Beirut is currently living, unfortunately, in an atmosphere similar to the period that preceded the civil war which broke out in 1975 and lasted for more than 15 years.
It seems to everyone that Iran wants to play with the Lebanon card. Although it supports and nourishes terrorism, Iran is seeking to fight Saudi Arabia on more than one front, to harass and exhaust the kingdom by using some neighbouring countries.
Some may ask why Lebanon is weak in front of Iran, and how it is a country that is easy for everyone to penetrate. For the answer, we must know that the main and most important political party that moves things inside this country is Hezbollah, which has succeeded in controlling the ruling regime inside Lebanon, including President Michel Aoun.
This is in addition to the political, sectarian, and religious divisions, and regional and international interventions, which are moving the various Lebanese factions and sects, even if this move is against the higher interest of the country.
Regrettably, “belonging” is no longer to the homeland, but a sect or faction, whether from outside the home or from within it. Perhaps this is the real problem of Lebanon, which we hope that its effects and consequences will not worsen, affecting the security of this sister Arab country and the stability of its people.
By Kadry El Haggar, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Al-Gomhoria newspaper and director of the Alexandria Festival of Francophone Cinema
